Mental Darwinism, a new approach to the study of mental phenomena, applies selectionist ideas to problems of mind and behavior. McNamara challenges the instructivist view that memories occur when information from the environment is transferred into the mind. Current experimental evidence confirms the insights of two turn-of-the-century philosophers, William James and Henri Bergson, who originally proposed applying Darwinian principles to mental processes. The view of the mind that emerges from this approach helps us understand why memory evolves as it does and is not always accurate or veridical, how memory is related to personal identity, and how a large number of neuropsychological disorders develop.

Challenging existing claims concerning the functions of Rapid Eye Movement sleep and the purported meaninglessness of dreams, this text offers a complete and up to date survey on the anatomy, physiology, ontogeny, and phylogeny of REM sleep as well as the cognitive neuroscience of dream phenomonolgy and dream content. The text underlines the importance of looking at how REM interacts physiologically with NREM sleep, in order to understand the potential functions of REM. The findings support and extend clams that the functions of REM involve memory consolidation and regulation of emotional conflicts and expression. Analyses of evolutionary relationships include sleep in reptiles, birds, marsupials, and mammals. Chapters explore interactions of REM and NREM and effects of these interactions on anabolic hormone release as well as the effects on dream content, the effects of genes and genomic imprinting on sleep, and theories of dream formation and content.

We've nearly all been there--awakened with a pounding heart by frightening scenes that seem real, but were conjured up and existed only in the sleeping mind. Nightmares affect people across countries and cultures, with some 10 percent of the world's population reporting recurrent nightmares. Parents have reported, and science has recorded, nightmares in children as young as 18 months. Up to 40 percent of children aged 2 to 12 experience nightmares, as do some 35 percent of veterans and 50 percent of adults with chronic illness. With this book, a psychologist widely known in his field shows how nightmares evolved and were useful to ancestral populations, and why nightmares may carry beneficial functional effects even today for people who suffer from the pulse-pumping dreams. McNamara brings us up to date on the biology of a nightmare and what, specifically, happens in the brain during the event. He also explains the history and development of nightmares and likely causes, including traumatic events, psychological and physical disorders, and commonly consumed medications. Many examples of nightmares are presented and explained. The content of nightmares is given unusually detailed attention, and the latest science on nightmares is succinctly reviewed. Tables in every chapter summarize existing findings and conclusions on nightmares, and strategies for dealing with nightmares are described. In this novel view, McNamara shows why, rather than being harmful, nightmares can be a helpful adaptive system. The special theme of "spirit possession," which frequently occurs in nightmares, is discussed and related to similar themes in horror movies and horror fiction.

The purpose of this book is to use neuroscience discoveries concerning religious experiences, the Self and personhood to deepen, enhance and interrogate the theological and philosophical set of ideas known as Personalism. McNamara proposes a new eschatological form of personalism that is consistent with current neuroscience models of relevant brain functions concerning the self and personhood and that can meet the catastrophic challenges of the 21st century. Eschatological Personalism, rooted in the philosophical tradition of "Boston Personalism", takes as its starting point the personalist claim that the significance of a self and personality is not fully revealed until it has reached its endpoint, but theologically that end point can only occur within the eschatological realm. That realm is explored in the book along with implications for personalist theory and ethics. Topics covered include the agent intellect, dreams and the imagination, future-orientation and eschatology, phenomenology of Time, social ethics, Love, the challenge of AI, privacy and solitude and the individual ethic of autarchy. This book is an innovative combination of the neuroscientific and theological insights provided by a Personalist viewpoint. As such, it will be of great interest to scholars of Cognitive Science, Theology, Religious Studies and the philosophy of the mind.

The purpose of this book is to use neuroscience discoveries concerning religious experiences, the Self and personhood to deepen, enhance and interrogate the theological and philosophical set of ideas known as Personalism. McNamara proposes a new eschatological form of personalism that is consistent with current neuroscience models of relevant brain functions concerning the self and personhood and that can meet the catastrophic challenges of the 21st century. Eschatological Personalism, rooted in the philosophical tradition of "Boston Personalism", takes as its starting point the personalist claim that the significance of a self and personality is not fully revealed until it has reached its endpoint, but theologically that end point can only occur within the eschatological realm. That realm is explored in the book along with implications for personalist theory and ethics. Topics covered include the agent intellect, dreams and the imagination, future-orientation and eschatology, phenomenology of Time, social ethics, Love, the challenge of AI, privacy and solitude and the individual ethic of autarchy. This book is an innovative combination of the neuroscientific and theological insights provided by a Personalist viewpoint. As such, it will be of great interest to scholars of Cognitive Science, Theology, Religious Studies and the philosophy of the mind.

The Cognitive Neuroscience of Religious Experience, now updated and expanded in a new edition, updates key topics covered in the first edition including: decentering and self-transformation, supernatural agent cognitions, mystical states, religious language, ritualization, and religious group agency. It expands upon the first edition to include major findings on brain and religious experience over the past decade, focusing on methodology, future thinking, and psychedelics. It provides an up-to-date review of brain-based accounts of religious experiences, and systematically examines the rationale for utilizing neuroscience approaches to religion. While it is primarily intended for religious studies scholars, people interested in comparative religion, philosophy of religion, cultural evolution, and personal self-transformation will find an account of how such transformation is accomplished within religious contexts.

The Cognitive Neuroscience of Religious Experience, now updated and expanded in a new edition, updates key topics covered in the first edition including: decentering and self-transformation, supernatural agent cognitions, mystical states, religious language, ritualization, and religious group agency. It expands upon the first edition to include major findings on brain and religious experience over the past decade, focusing on methodology, future thinking, and psychedelics. It provides an up-to-date review of brain-based accounts of religious experiences, and systematically examines the rationale for utilizing neuroscience approaches to religion. While it is primarily intended for religious studies scholars, people interested in comparative religion, philosophy of religion, cultural evolution, and personal self-transformation will find an account of how such transformation is accomplished within religious contexts.

Dr. Richard Polin's Neonatology Questions and Controversies series highlights the toughest challenges facing physicians and care providers in clinical practice, offering trustworthy guidance on up-to-date diagnostic and treatment options in the field. In each volume, renowned experts address the clinical problems of greatest concern to today's practitioners, helping you handle difficult practice issues and provide optimal, evidence-based care to every patient.The thoroughly updated, full-color, 4th Edition of Neonatal Hemodynamics:  Provides in-depth clinical overviews of the many hemodynamic conditions that are relevant for the neonatologist, offering guidance based on the most up-to-date understanding of underlying pathophysiology.  Places emphasis on controversial areas that can entail different approaches.  Features the most current clinical information throughout, covering everything from basic cardiovascular physiology to advanced monitoring and hemodynamic assessment. Several chapters have been revised to focus on the novel concepts of hemodynamic phenotypes, enhanced diagnostic precision, and phenotypic profiling, and are illustrated by demonstrative case presentations.  Includes new chapters on neonatal hemodynamic pharmacology, hemodynamic management in special circumstances (twin-twin transfusion, infant of a diabetic mother, arteriovenous malformations), neonatal hemodynamic care in the resource-challenged country, chronic pulmonary hypertension assessment and management, and more.   Utilizes a consistent chapter organization to help you find information quickly and easily, and contains numerous charts, graphs, radiographic images, and photographs throughout.  Offers the most authoritative advice available from world-class neonatologists with expertise in neonatal hemodynamics, who share their knowledge of new trends and developments in neonatal care.  An eBook version is included with purchase. The eBook allows you to access all of the text, figures and references, with the ability to search, customize your content, make notes and highlights, and have content read aloud.  Purchase each volume individually, or get the entire 7-volume Neonatology Questions and Controversies set, which includes online access that allows you to search across all titles!  Gastroenterology and Nutrition  Hematology and Transfusion Medicine  Neonatal Hemodynamics  Infectious Disease, Immunology, and Pharmacology  Renal, Fluid, and Electrolyte Disorders  Neurology  The Newborn Lung 

A standout resource on the emerging field of applying neuropsychology and the latest findings in sleep and dream research to religious experience, this book investigates the proven biological links between REM dreams and religious ideas, covering past and current schools of thought in both the science of dreams and the science of religion. Across time and around the world, billions of people with highly dissimilar backgrounds and cultures have felt spiritual or religious inspiration that shaped their lives and supplemented their mental strength-and in many cases, this inspiration came via a dream. The "how" and "why" of this common phenomenon is one that science has largely failed to explain. In this book, nationally recognized behavioral neuroscientist Patrick McNamara taps the latest science in sleep and dreams as well as neuropsychology to investigate one facet of the answer from the "inside out"-the human brain's role. The first study of its kind in an emerging field, Dreams and Visions: How Religious Ideas Emerge in Sleep and Dreams provides a comprehensive summary of past theory and examines the latest science on dreams, REM sleep, cognitive approaches to religion, and neuroscience approaches to religion. Readers will come away with an in-depth understanding of how and why god beliefs and spiritual convictions so often emerge in our dreams. Dedicated sections address special dream types like visitation dreams, nightmares, precognitive dreams, "big" dreams, lucid dreams, paralysis dreams, twin dreams, and more. Provides detailed, mechanistic, and science-based explanations of how god beliefs emerge in dreams Shows how the dynamics of REM sleep neurochemical processes produce cognitive states that promote beliefs in supernatural beings Presents numerous examples of how the birth of new religious movements was due to dreams of the founders Reviews the extensive literature on the anthropology of dreams, demonstrating their centrality to primal tribal cultures and religion

With recent advances of modern medicine more people reach the "elderly age" around the globe and the number of dementia cases are ever increasing. This book is about various aspects of dementia and provides its readers with a wide range of thought-provoking sub-topics in the field of dementia. The ultimate goal of this monograph is to stimulate other physicians' and neuroscientists' interest to carry out more research projects into pathogenesis of this devastating group of diseases.

A dark comedy about human nature and rehabilitation. A tale of two friends who struggle to find themselves while battling an addiction to killing people.

Anything can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time. Wouldn't you rather know that you had done everything in your power to have prepared yourself for that moment when something goes wrong? None of us plan to fail, but we may fail to plan.

In "Sentinel," author Patrick McNamara provides an instructional guide filled with survival techniques for the family. Drawing from his background as a special-operations agent for twenty-two years, McNamara discusses the importance of being the protector of the family and provides a host of techniques, strategies, and procedures to ensure safety. He offers simple steps for being better prepared for power blackouts, home invasions, and attacks on the street and more. From your home to your vehicle and beyond, McNamara discusses how to plan for contingencies.

"Sentinel" provides the information necessary to help you take charge of your own domain and be able to count on yourself to protect your own life and the lives of those close to you.

Recognize the void in your tactical training Train like you fight Maintain safety at all times Choose targets that force accountability Develop a series of standards Patrick McNamara spent twenty-two years in the United States Army in a myriad of special operations units. When he worked in the premier special missions unit, he became an impeccable marksman, shooting with accurate, lethal results and tactical effectiveness. McNamara has trained tactical applications of shooting to people of all levels of marksmanship, from varsity level soldiers, U.S. Secret Service agents and police officers who work the streets to civilians with little to no time behind the trigger.

His military experience quickly taught him that there is more to tactical marksmanship than merely squeezing the trigger. Utilizing his years of experience, McNamara developed a training methodology that is safe, effective and combat relevant and encourages a continuous thought process. This methodology teaches how to maintain safety at all times and choose targets that force accountability, as well as provides courses covering several categories, including individual, collective, on line and standards.

TAPS: Tactical Application of Practical Shooting: Recognize the void in your tactical training will increase the confidence and efficiency in your shooting by providing training tips and courses of fire to help you significantly improve your marksmanship. Utilize his tips and techniques and reap the benefits as you shoot.

We've nearly all been there at least once - awakened with a pounding heart and the memory of frightening scenes that seemed so real, but were conjured up and existed only in the sleeping mind. Nightmares affect people across countries and cultures, with some 10 percent of the world's population reporting recurrent nightmares. Parents have reported, and science has recorded, nightmares in children as young as 18 months old. Up to 40 percent of children aged 2 to 12 experience nightmares, as do some 35 percent of veterans and 50 percent of adults with chronic illness. With this book, a psychologist widely known in his field shows how nightmares evolved and were useful to ancestral populations, and why nightmares may carry beneficial functional effects even today for people who suffer from the pulse-pumping dreams. McNamara brings us up to date on the biology of nightmares and what, specifically, happens in the brain during the event. He also explains the history and development of nightmares and likely causes, including traumatic events, psychological and physical disorders, and commonly consumed medications.

The purpose of the book is to summarise recent advances in our understanding of leader-follower interactions and to illustrate these principles with the lives of ancient political and military leaders from Greece and Rome. The authors review psychologic, cognitive neuroscientific and evolutionary approaches to leader-follower dynamics and illustrate these dynamics as they played out in the lives of the most eminent of the military and political leaders of the classical world. The authors summarise what is known about leader-follower relations by reviewing all extant papers on the topic in the psychology, neuroscientific and evolutionary psychology literature. The material for this book came from Plutarch's compendium of 42 biographies of Greek and Roman leaders.

With a breadth including breaking research from around the world, this set created by a team of experts is the most authoritative source that exists regarding the biology and psychology of dreaming. Readers will not only understand the new science of dreams, but how that science could lead to innovations in the medical, social technical and biotech fields. Although it has been described since ancient times, dreaming remains a somewhat mysterious mental process, and scientists around the world continue to study its mechanisms and meanings. In this unique set of books, experts in the field from around the globe gather to show the newest and most exciting research and findings related to the biology and psychology of dreaming. New studies of dream content, for example, show that across age groups, cultures and clinical groups, dreams have recurring themes. New brain imaging techniques show us specific brain regions involved in dreaming. Other research featured here describes the biology or psychology of realistic and bizarre dreams, of symbolic images in dreams, and of how differences in gender and personality affect dreams and dreaming. The newest and most extensive source of information on dreaming in existence, this set gives readers insights into how this new science could lead to innovations in the medical, social, technical, and biotech fields. Dozens of contributors—some top experts in their fields known internationally—show us how brain functions affect and are affected by dreaming and why these new findings should be important to all of us. Volume I spotlights the biology of sleep and dreaming. Volume II focuses on dream content and its many facets. In Volume III, the many theoretical accounts of dreams are presented.

Money Matters presents the findings of the largest and most incisive study of factors influencing church giving in America. The authors conducted an exhaustive study of church giving in five representative denominations: Assemblies of God, Southern Baptist, Roman Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and Presbyterian. With detailed information from 625 churches, this book offers surprising conclusions about member contributions - and about the current condition of American churches.

This two-volume text reviews spirit possession throughout history, analyzes case studies from a cognitive neuroscience perspective, and examines rites for exorcism. From the beginning of civilization to the present day, and across all major religions and cultures, there have been documented cases of people seemingly overtaken by an unseen entity. The invading force-whether good or bad-appears to replace the possessor's soul with the spirit's own persona, resulting in mystifying symptoms such as levitation or other supernatural feats, speaking in tongues, and even horrific and inexplicably accelerated physical distortion and deterioration. This is a two-volume chronological history and examination of spirit possession that addresses its phenomenological, psychological, and neurobiological aspects, and its effects on societies. Volume one reviews spirit possession from the upper Paleolithic era to modern times, while Volume two focuses on case studies and rites of exorcism. Provides a comprehensive bibliography of materials that gathers historical, anthropological, and archaeological sources, as well as comparative religionist and neurologic literature Contains indexes that reference key religious events, rituals, and personalities, and cross-reference key characteristics of case studies

Research during the past two decades has produced major advances in understanding sleep within particular species. Simultaneously, molecular advances have made it possible to generate phylogenetic trees, while new analytical methods provide the tools to examine macroevolutionary change on these trees. These methods have recently been applied to questions concerning the evolution of distinctive sleep state characteristics and functions. This book synthesizes recent advances in our understanding of the evolutionary origins of sleep and its adaptive function, and it lays the groundwork for future evolutionary research by assessing sleep patterns in the major animal lineages.